‘Black Friday’ sales bonanza fails to boost London stock market

London (AFP) – London’s stock market fell on Friday, bucking an upwards trend elsewhere, as ‘Black Friday’ price-slashing wooed customers but was expected to hurt the bottom line of Britain’s biggest retailers.

So-called Black Friday, the now-traditional day of steep discounts in the run-up to Christmas, failed to boost share prices of retailers partly owing to fierce competition from online giants like Amazon, dealers said.

The mood in London soured also on news that British consumer confidence, tracked by pollsters YouGov and researchers the Centre for Economics and Business Research, has slumped to the lowest level since just after last year’s shock Brexit referendum.

“With sales rising at the expense of margins, there is a strong possibility that we will see retailers’ profitability suffer despite rising revenues,” Joshua Mahony, analyst at IG trading group, said regarding the impact of Black Friday.

“Unfortunately, while billions will be spent in the UK today, we have seen UK consumer confidence hit the lowest level since the EU referendum, paving the way for what could be a disappointing holiday season for retailers,” he added.

In late morning deals, London’s FTSE index was down 0.3 percent in value compared with Thursday’s close.